Chasing Bad Debts - Debt Collection Agencies

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BobbyFowler

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I've got my own business, selling advertising around the country. My average sale is 400 Euro. At this stage I have several people who have owed me money for over 6 months. I'm wasting a lot of productive time, getting too immersed in chasing this rather than going out and making money. The fact that I'm following up on relatively small sums of money, I was wondering if anyone could recommend an agency who I could pass these debts over to?
 
I've heard a company called Interim Justia [or somelike like that] advertising on the radio for that very purpose.
 
We used experian and didn't find them very good at collecting the debt and they turned out to be expensive, so we then got a lady we knew to use our headed paper and send out formal looking letters and she was much more successful, she charged a fee per letter and the a % of the debt when she recovered it, found this was the most cost effective solution
 
I agree with Tirl. This seems like a much less expensive option and people are likely to cough up when they recieve intimidating letters in the post.
 
That sounds good - would it be possible to send me on that persons details (if they're happy with it) and I could chat to them. Thanks.
 
BobbyFowler said:
I've got my own business, selling advertising around the country. My average sale is 400 Euro. At this stage I have several people who have owed me money for over 6 months. I'm wasting a lot of productive time, getting too immersed in chasing this rather than going out and making money. The fact that I'm following up on relatively small sums of money, I was wondering if anyone could recommend an agency who I could pass these debts over to?
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Until recently I worked for a small company who had a few late & non payers. The debt collectors weren't great. Instrum Justica & Dunne & Bradstreet are 2 fairly reputable firms but proceed with caution!! I clearly remember one case where there was a debt of Euro 1100.... when all was done & dusted, my boss recieved Euro 201.04????? The mind boggles! My boss then chose another route to try to recover approx 1500, he got a solicitor on the job and got a judgement registered against the guy who was a sole trader. The judgement is held aginst the guy's property so if he ever goes to sell it, the debt must first be cleared. The solicitor charged over 400 quid which my boss had to fork out and he's still not been paid the initial debt. I would suggest, if you are only dealing with a figure of 400 or so.... get yourself into the small claims court, it might cost you 20 quid but those that owe you will sit up and take notice.
 
smithy said:
I would suggest, if you are only dealing with a figure of 400 or so.... get yourself into the small claims court, it might cost you 20 quid but those that owe you will sit up and take notice.
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I'm not entirely certain but I think that the small claims court may only be used by individuals claiming against companies, not companies against other companies or registered bodies. Although don't take that as gospel as I'm not 100% on it.
 
Icarus said:
I'm not entirely certain but I think that the small claims court may only be used by individuals claiming against companies, not companies against other companies or registered bodies. Although don't take that as gospel as I'm not 100% on it.
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I'm not 100% sure either Icarus, but if they don't handle this sort of thing ... they should!!!!
 
A good tip when trying to collect debts and getting nowhere is to send a seven day letter, advising them that if the debt is not settled within seven days of the letter, that you will be passing the account to a solicitor for collection. Send the letter by registered post.

For some reason, once they see registered post, they know you are serious!!! It works for me in about 75% of cases. If they do not respond to the registered post, then I know I really do have to send them a solicitors letter.
 
Small claims court handles consumer claims against businesses, not business to business claims.
 
Bobby

Thankfully I have not had many late payments. Those that I have had caused me the stress, frustration and waste of time that you mentioned in your original post.

One way I have gotten people to pay up is to threathen to apply the late payments regulations if they do not pay up with a number of days. This legislation allows you to charge interest and reasonable expenses on top of the original invoice. In each case, payment was forthcoming within the specified time limit.

http://www.entemp.ie/enterprise/smes/latepay.htm

http://www.entemp.ie/publications/trade/2002/latepayguide.doc

C
 
My Dad's been a sole trader for years and unfortunately found this to be par for the course. His most succesful moethod for getting paid quickly was to offer "discounts" for those paying by cash and within 30 days. Basically this was the acutal price - and anybody else had to pay a hiked up rate based on the cost of calling in to find that "he's on the golfcourse/in the riviera/discussing bankruptcy with his solicitor."

Needless to say he still found over the years that he lost thousands in revenue and time due to these clowns. He's usually written it off where the customer was somebody he got to know well. Sadly he himself ended up in situation far worse than any of them, despite the efforts above, and no summer home in the Reviera etc. Such is life.
 
Only coming back to this now. It really has been frustrating chasing some of these amounts. From the other posts I can now see how common this is. I've another two debts which I was debating sending to a solicitor or not. Looks like I'm just going to have to accept these debts.......Pity.
 
For €400, is there any way you can just get them to pay up front?
 
It's a bit complicated but the answer is no. Actually had a chat with my solicitor (I know him personally) earlier and explained the situation. The reality is that my average ad sale is 400 Euro - I've sold ads to 600 people and all but 10 of them have paid up. I think it just comes with the territory.
 
Hi guys, This is my first time repling to anything. I work in the property industry and bad debts can be an issue. I have found a excellent company for debt collection called southern cross solicitors and their web site is [broken link removed]
 
Hi Bazza - No disrespect, but posters round here are often cynical about recommendations like this from first-time posters.
 
I work for a Collection agency, I know you guys don't take too kindly to advertising (Which btw is totally understandable) so I wont mention the name. However... if anyone wants to talk to me about this topic just send me a private message.
 
I'm surprised you're looking for names - we're being hounded several times dailly with Credit Control companies looking to speak to the owner/MD! LOADS of co's out there offering it.

We don't use any of them - I find persistence on the phone usually pays off, if not - 7 days letter by registered post (as previously posted) - followed by "Final Communication" stating that the matter is now being passed to solicitor and all costs incurred in recovering the debt incl. Interest at 9.75% will be passed to client.
 
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